Penny Johnson Jerald, perhaps best known to audiences as President Palmer’s deliciously duplicitous wife on the early seasons of “24,” is returning to primetime this fall as the new boss of ABC’s “Castle.”

“I liken it to a great stew, or a gumbo, which is spicier. I might be the new sausage. And something that they can’t tell if its beef or chicken kind of thing. So they’re not sure. I’m sure that they will have to rise up to my level, and not me go down to theirs.”

That means Gates won’t be as lenient as her predecessor, who was gunned down in last season’s finale. In fact, her first order of business is banning Richard Castle from the squad room, and from working his partner, Beckett, once she recovers from getting shot herself.

Johnson Jerald promises that there’s more to Gates than just barking and bristling.

“She is rather exciting,” Johnson Jerald said. “I love complex characters. And I’m so glad that she’s not one-dimensional. She may be on a narrow path – by the book and stern and not your typical nurturing captain. She calls it what it is, and I think she is a wonderful mirror to show both Castle and Beckett not what they want to see, but what is actually there. Therefore it throws them off.”

What is actually there, of course, between Beckett and Castle is undying love, which Castle finally professed in the finale moments after Beckett was shot.

Whether Beckett actually remembers that declaration is a key part of Monday’s season premiere, though she does eventually return to duty. And so will Castle, thanks to his friendship with the mayor.

But the charming novelist’s connections won’t earn him any slack from Gates. She’ll be keeping him on a short leash.

“It’s really short,” Johnson Jerald said. “There was a time when we would actually put a little leash on our children, and you can pull that thing just like you do with the animal where you can shorten it. It’s like taking them to Disneyland, and they

are right there. ‘I’m watching you. Nothing you do is going to get past me.’ So, unlike the captain before, I don’t think (Castle and Beckett) will be able to get away with a lot of things, because she sees everything.”

Jan. 22, I’ve seen her in other sitcoms and it seems she always plays a nasty woman. I don’t feel she is a good replacement for Capt. Montgomery at all…she doesn’t add spice, she adds nastiness…she’s out of place somehow…things flow well between the other characters even when they are at odds with each other but she…seems mean and nasty. I know it’s a character role but I hope they find someone else soon…otherwise, I love the show and the characters…